Griem admits he violated court order

The former attorney for Bob Bashara on Friday in court admitted responsibility to civil contempt charges involving the case of the Grosse Pointe Park businessman who authorities say is a suspect in his wife’s murder.

David Griem, a former Macomb County and federal prosecutor, was charged in 36th District Court in Detroit with illegally sharing discovery evidence with Bashara’s relatives and in a second incident, accused of filing improper subpoenas for a case that did not exist. While accepting responsibility in each incident, he said he hadn’t meant to be in contempt of court.

In a show-cause hearing before 36th District Judge Kenneth King, Griem apologized and accepted responsibility on both petitions.

“As someone who has been an attorney for over 35 years and takes his obligations as an attorney seriously, I’m particularly embarrassed to be in this situation,” he said.

Advertisement

In both cases, he was initially accused of criminal contempt charges but pleaded responsibility to civil contempt charges in a move approved by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Lindsey indicated in court that his admission was equivalent to a guilty plea.

Griem had been serving as Bashara’s attorney until this past July when he moved to withdraw from the case after encountering what he described as an “irreparable breakdown” in their attorney/client relationship.

Bashara has been named as a person of interest in the strangulation of his 54-year-old wife, Jane Bashara. A former handyman, Joseph Gentz, has been charged with conspiracy and first-degree murder in the slaying of Jane Bashara.

On Thursday, Bob Bashara pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation of murder after admitting he tried to hire someone to kill Gentz, who is in jail awaiting trial.

In the solicitation case, Griem was accused of showing evidence to Bashara’s mother and other family members, which violated a protective order.

Addressing the judge on Friday, Griem said: “I had notice of the protective order in this case and I did, in fact, violate it. I did not intend to violate the order, but I did not pay attention to the details, and it was my obligation to do so.”

Griem also accepted responsibility for illegally issuing subpoenas seeking information about Gentz’s past employment records for a non-existing case. He labeled the investigative subpoenas as being in regard to the Bashara case even though Bashara had not been charged.

“I did not intend to cause improper subpoenas to be issued, but I erred as to that matter also,” Griem said.

While apologizing to the court, prosecutors and Gentz attorney Susan Reed, he added “this is not the way I practice law.” He said he’s spent a great deal of time considering his actions and “I never want to make such a mistake again.”

The judge set a sanctioning hearing, or sentencing, for Nov. 26 at which time he could face monetary sanctions. It’s possible he could face discipline from the attorney grievance commission.

Bob Bashara faces at least four years in prison when he is sentenced on Nov. 20 for trying to hire a hit man to kill Gentz. Officials said Bashara was afraid Gentz will implicate him in the murder of his wife, whose beaten body was found in late January in her SUV on Detroit’s east side, several miles from her Grosse Pointe Park home.